Heavy Metals in Common Fishes Consumed in Dhaka, a Megacity of Asia: A Probabilistic Carcinogenic and Non-Carcinogenic Health Hazard.

Heavy metal contamination of fish is a serious public health concern worldwide, including in Bangladesh. In this study, six commonly consumed fish species namely Hilsha (Tenualosa ilisha), Kachki (Corica soborna), Punti (Puntitus ticto), Taki (Channa punctatus), Meni (Nandus nandus), and Tengra (Mystus tengara) were analyzed for arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni), by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The fish samples were collected from wholesale markets in Dhaka city, the main business hub of Bangladesh where the fishes converged from countrywide and are redistributed to the whole city. The metal concentration varied among the studied fish species. Hilsha, the national fish of Bangladesh, contained the highest As among the other fishes of this study, whereas Zn, Cd, Cu, Mn, and Ni were the highest in Kachki, and Pb and Cr were the highest in Tengra. The probable source of metal accumulation in the fish species may be the river or marine water that can be contaminated by industrial waste, pesticide, and/or fertilizer use in agriculture and/or commercial fish feeds. All analyzed fish species showed serious heavy metal pollution, having high average pollution load index (APLI) values (> 1). The estimated daily intake (EDI) values for the metals were lower than the maximum tolerable daily intake (MTDI). The hazard index (HI) for all the fish species was above 1 for adults, showing non-carcinogenic health risks. The target carcinogenic risk (TCR) values were below the acceptable limit (10-4) for most of the metals, indicating safe for consumption with respect to the risk of cancer.

[Adolescents' attitude toward soft drinks and factors associated with their consumption]. / Actitud de los adolescentes hacia los refrescos y factores asociados a su consumo.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate adolescents' attitudes towards soft drinks and identify the underlying factors that are associated with their consumption of such drinks. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 213 adolescents aged between 10 and 19years living in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A structured questionnaire was used to assess their socio-demographic and soft drinks consumption-related characteristics, and their attitudes towards soft drinks. Structural equation modelling was employed to identify the potential factors associated with soft drink consumption among adolescents. RESULTS: More than 80% of the adolescents consumed soft drinks at least once a week. Overall, adolescents had a positive attitude toward soft drinks. Results revealed that adolescent's attitudes, gender, accessibility of soft drinks at school/college, distance from home to shop, outside food intake habit and parents' soft drinks consumption were the factors associated with their consumption of soft drinks. CONCLUSION: High proportion of adolescents consumed soft drinks. Thus, a community and individual level nutrition education programme with targeted behaviour change might be helpful to reduce the consumption of sweetened beverages among adolescents.

Actitud de los adolescentes hacia los refrescos y factores asociados a su consumo / Adolescents’ attitude toward soft drinks and factors associated with their consumption

Objetivo: Evaluar las actitudes de los adolescentes hacia los refrescos e identificar los factores subyacentes asociados al consumo de dichas bebidas. Método: Estudio transversal realizado entre 213 adolescentes de edades comprendidas entre 10 y 19años, residentes en Dhaka, Bangladesh. Se utilizó un cuestionario estructurado para evaluar las características sociodemográficas y las relacionadas con el consumo de refrescos, así como sus actitudes hacia los mismos. Se utilizó una modelización de ecuación estructural para identificar los factores potenciales asociados al consumo de refrescos entre los adolescentes. Resultados: Más del 80% de los adolescentes consumía refrescos al menos una vez por semana. En general, los adolescentes tuvieron una actitud positiva hacia los refrescos. Los resultados revelaron que las actitudes de los adolescentes, el sexo, la accesibilidad a los refrescos en la escuela/instituto, la distancia del domicilio a la tienda, el hábito de ingerir alimentos en el exterior y el consumo de refrescos por parte de los padres eran factores asociados al consumo de refrescos por parte de este colectivo. Conclusión: Una elevada proporción de adolescentes consumía refrescos. Por tanto, un programa educativo sobre nutrición a nivel comunitario e individual podría ayudar a reducir el consumo de bebidas azucaradas entre los adolescentes.(AU)

Objective: To evaluate adolescents’ attitudes towards soft drinks and identify the underlying factors that are associated with their consumption of such drinks. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 213 adolescents aged between 10 and 19years living in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A structured questionnaire was used to assess their socio-demographic and soft drinks consumption-related characteristics, and their attitudes towards soft drinks. Structural equation modelling was employed to identify the potential factors associated with soft drink consumption among adolescents. Results: More than 80% of the adolescents consumed soft drinks at least once a week. Overall, adolescents had a positive attitude toward soft drinks. Results revealed that adolescent's attitudes, gender, accessibility of soft drinks at school/college, distance from home to shop, outside food intake habit and parents’ soft drinks consumption were the factors associated with their consumption of soft drinks. Conclusion: High proportion of adolescents consumed soft drinks. Thus, a community and individual level nutrition education programme with targeted behaviour change might be helpful to reduce the consumption of sweetened beverages among adolescents.(AU)

Knowledge, attitudes, and predictors of exclusive breastfeeding practice among lactating mothers in Noakhali, Bangladesh.

Background: Mothers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward exclusive breastfeeding are crucial to both child and mother's health and wellbeing. Hence, This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices of exclusive breastfeeding among lactating mothers as well as the predictors of their exclusive breastfeeding practice. Methodology: This cross-sectional study included 397 mothers having infants aged 0-6 months who sought care at Noakhali Sadar Upazila, Noakhali, Bangladesh. A field-tested and validated Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) questionnaire was utilized to collect information from participants. Results: Of those evaluated; 29.0% of mothers could not define exclusive breastfeeding accurately, 11.3% and 59.3% did not know the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for babies and mothers, respectively. More than half (51.4%) of the mothers reported feeling good about exclusive breastfeeding for six months, did not find difficulties to breastfeed exclusively for six months (39.5%) and on-demand (58.2%). The mothers had an overall favorable attitude towards exclusive breastfeeding; however, 38.3% of mothers did not exclusively breastfeed their children. Literate mothers tended to exclusively breastfeed more (AOR: 3.06, 95% CI: 1.01-9.32; P = 0.049) than illiterate mothers. Mothers having one baby were more likely to breastfeed exclusively (AOR: 3.07, 95% CI: 1.21-7.78; P = 0.018) than mothers having more than one baby. Moreover, mothers with higher knowledge and favorable attitude had more than two times (AOR: 2.58, 95% CI: 1.315.07; P = 0.006) and forty-three times (AOR: 43.18, 95% CI: 21.513-86.66; P < 0.001) the higher tendency of exclusive breastfeeding compared to others. Conclusion: Despite having satisfactory knowledge and attitude, the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers was poor. We recommend that interventions must be focused more on ensuring exclusive breastfeeding practice among mothers in addition to improving their knowledge and attitudes.

Molar ratios of dietary phytate to minerals and iron status of female residential students in University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Female undergraduate students may undergo many health implications due to the transition from secondary to undergraduate level. AIM: The study was aimed to assess molar ratios of phytate to minerals (calcium, zinc, and iron) in the diets, and to measure the iron status of resident female students at Dhaka University. METHODS: In total, 180 female students between 18-26 years of age from 3 dormitories of Dhaka University were selected for the study. Dietary intake information was collected over three consecutive days. Multiple-Pass 24-hour recall. Blood hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels were analyzed for sub-sample (20 participants from each dormitory). RESULTS: The mean dietary intake of phytate, calcium, zinc, and iron were estimated at 347.11, 181.04, 6.59, and 7.14 mg/day, and hemoglobin and serum ferritin at 11.34 g/dl, and 18.48 ng/ml, respectively. The respective molar ratios of phytate: calcium, phytate: zinc, phytate: iron and phytate × calcium: zinc were 0.13, 5.27, 4.20, and 21.26 in the diet of the respondents. The prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia among the respondents was found to be 51.7%, 48.4%, and 28.3%, respectively. Linear regression analysis showed that only zinc intake had positive association with hemoglobin, while iron and zinc intake had a significant positive, and phytate:iron molar ratio had a significant negative association with serum ferritin concentration (p < 0.05). After adjusting all significant determinants of serum ferritin, no predictors have found significant. CONCLUSIONS: Larger and more specific research is needed to clearly understand the mechanism behind anemia and iron deficiency among female residential students.